Bring down/draw/close the curtain

These expressions have been used figuratively to mean death, demise, the end or the closure of an episode, since medieval times, when curtains divided rooms or shrouded beds. This was long before their use in the theatre. Shakespeare in King Henry VI, Part II, Act III, Scene III, has King Henry saying at Cardinal Beaufort’s death, “Close up his eyes and draw the curtain close; and let us all to meditation.” See also Ring down the curtain and Curtains.